The present disclosure relates generally to communication technology. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to optical and/or electrical communication usable at facilities, such as offshore wellsite and/or other harsh environments.
Fiber optics are used at facilities, such as wellsites, for providing communication between various equipment. For example, fiber optics have been used at offshore wellsites for providing communication between surface and subsea equipment. Offshore wellsites have various equipment for performing wellsite operations at offshore locations. Such wellsite operations involve underwater or subsea applications, such as offshore seabed surveys, oceanographic pursuits, marine telecommunication, and well control, communication, and sensing systems. Such wellsite operations may occur under harsh conditions at various water depths.
Various systems, such as conventional copper based communication systems, have been used for communicating about offshore facilities. In harsh environment applications, such as offshore oil and gas fields, fiber optics have been employed for communication with sensors and control systems involved in exploration and production of hydrocarbons.
Fiber optics use optical fibers to transmit light between locations for the transmission of data signals. Fiber optics technology has been developed to facilitate communication at enhanced bandwidth connections over distances. Examples of fiber optic technology are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,290, US20140233898; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,796,821, 4,545,645, 6,584,253, 6,028,974, 7,338,215, 4,516,830, 5,048,921, 6,338,579, 5,076,657, 4,580,874 and EP1291694, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Despite the advancements in fiber optic technology, there remains a need for communication and/or fiber optic devices, capable of operation in even harsh environments, such as offshore and/or subsea conditions. The present disclosure is directed at providing such needs.